Loved my stay in Mindanao - even if it only lasted for a while. Going to go back for more that’s for sure.
Adios Mindanao /
Bahaghari /
Life is colorful when you want it to be.
Good Morning Mindanao /
I must admit that I was quite adamant with the thought of going to the region for the first time because of all the unnerving events that have happened here throughout it’s history. But behind all that petrifying veil of presentiments that one could naturally associate with the word “Mindanao” lies a beautifully tranquil refuge filled with gentle smiles of people that is complimented by the calming tropical feel that can only be infused by life beside the ever-humbling sea. I’m happy to be here and I hope it stays that way.
Soloista /
Mah homegurl’s first solo. Come one come all.
CROWN AND COUNTRY
Photo essay on Pageant Culture in the Philippines by Tammy David
The latest addition to her series of perspectives, Tammy David showcases the pageantry of determination, ambition, and hard work in her photo exhibit entitled Crown and Country. In this 12-photo display, Tammy shares her awakenings as she follows local beauty contestants in all their shimmering and dressed-down-and-less glory.
“Like boxing and basketball, beauty pageants are very much part of my countryʼs culture. Beauty pageants are a metaphor for Filipino culture because they glorify beauty, reflect filial and societal mores, and provide an aspirational platform that is a manifestation of my countryʼs colonial history.”, the 27 year old freelance photographer enthuses. Immersing into the trainings, proceedings, pageant proper, and the contenders however, Tammy realizes that the pageants are more than celebrations of tradition – they are pathways to doors that open to better lives. The access brings to life aspirations to see the world, to land better jobs, to have better food on the table, to support an ailing parent, to send siblings to school, and yes, to be a beautiful living symbol of one’s country, it’s ambassadress of goodwill. These hearts are what make up each pageant contestant, and the rigorous trainings and preparations are all unabashedly taken in.
Physical beauty, love for family, fear of God, love for country. Experience the spectacle.
“Crown and Country” will be on display from 19 September - 17 October 2010 at MANILA COLLECTIVE Photospace Cafe Cubao X (formerly Marikina Shoe Expo) Gen. Romulo Ave. Cubao, QC For more information, visit www.manilacollective.com
Time's Up /
I guess four months is enough time to bask in the indolent side of life ever since I started working while still in college. I found the perfect excuse of having a vacation after never having the opportunity to get one. Now that’s over and done with I find myself yearning for what was so sickening already a few months ago. I guess after 25 years of existing on this planet. I got caught up being confused on whether to make the most out of my last years of tolerably still being a kid or start the scary but inevitable process of growing up. The latter succeeds and playtime’s over. Looking for my groove back let’s just hope the groove’s still there to take me back in.
The Kid in Us /
I miss shooting.. I miss getting high while holding the camera.. My bike is the current prevailing source of that high right now, the kind of high in which you feel so damn free.. Feel nothing but euphoria and bliss.. Feel like life’s one whole big adventure wherein the excitement of the uncertain seems to lurk at every corner even with just the most minute of things. In some ways, the feeling you get when you’re a kid. But there always comes a time wherein we have to give up the dearest of things to our heart, move on and grow up in the process — even temporarily. So we could become kids again and do whatever we want to do, even just for once in a while as we all live this life out.
Pure Bliss /
Bruised. Battered. Cut open. Even with all the protective gear that has the ability to make one feel invincible once worn. And that’s just the start. First time I took my new downhill rig after buying it a day earlier and she immediately made going down with her worth every penny. All the pain, the exhaustion, the blood and pain are all worth that rush you get when you’re flying down the hill with jump, drops, banks, literally everything. I’ve never felt so free, so happy with my life but I’ve never been so broke and distant with photography as well. It is pure bliss, but we’re not in a perfect world. There’s always compromises.
On Fire /
An iPhone snap of the fire that took more than seven hours to put out and razed 800 houses that left thousands homeless in Muntinlupa city on Saturday May 15, 2010. These fires happen quite often especially in the slum areas here in the Metro. Roughly 4,000 are now homeless and it’s just sad. Please try to drop by nearby evac centers if you live in the area and try to give some of your excess such as food or clothing.
Feast of the Black Nazarene /
Yes it’s been months since the feast has been over but it’s only recently that I was able to play around with a video editing software to put together random clips I’ve shot during ‘09 and ‘10. Tried to shoot acceptable video clips, but these are just random footage I’ve shot back then without the purpose of editing it into a piece. It’s just too hard to simultaneously shoot video when you’re priority is to capture great stills.. But I’ll get the hang of it. Video and stills are in totally different worlds. I know everybody’s getting sick of Nazareno footages but here’s what I’ve managed to come up with.
Disappearing Act /
Run. When you have nothing else better to do just run. Far, far, far away.. Until you get lost and find your way again.
Heaven On Earth /
Had to walk a lot of times but all the pain and exhaustion was well worth it. Simply the closest thing to heaven on earth.
Photo by Karla Ortigas
Photo by Karla Ortigas
King Of the Hill /
It’s funny how time passes so quickly when you are on the top of the hill. Everything looks so perfect, so serene, so imperturbable. But once you are down, you start to feel and be conscious of everything you never saw when you were so high up in the clouds. Despite adamant attempts to climb back and palliate the damage, everything just seems to dissipate. The bright sunshine over the mountains slowly fades; the sky seems to lose a touch of blue; simple joys can’t bring the same joys anymore. Worse, the consequences of time makes itself more pronounced, creating an immense pressure that pushes you to the extent that you stall and look for escapes, quick fixes, distractions that makes us pusillanimous to face the hard fact that one has to focus and prioritize to get moving. Isn’t it ironic that when we are in an unmitigated Utopian state of mind that we are also in a position to abruptly disregard the essentials of life, making us incredibly vulnerable to crash land back into the reality that life is and cannot be perfect — without even the slightest of chances to forestall it? Life is full of ups and downs like we always say. Cliches cliches and more cliches. But that’s why they’re called cliches because they’re just so damn true and need to be repeated again and again.
Olongapo Night Life /
A short clip from a night club at Olongapo’s Red Light District. Commodity at its lowest.
STRIP 2010 : A documentary exhibit by Tammy David, Jake Verzosa and Veejay Villafranca /
| Date: | Friday, February 19, 2010 |
| Time: | 6:00pm - 11:30pm |
| Location: | Silverlens Gallery, Pasong Tamo extension |
There is nothing in the world more interesting than people. And documentary photographers, Tammy David, Jake Verzosa and Veejay Villafranca know it.
Launching STRIP, a new annual photography show by Silverlens Gallery, are three young photographers who are all about documenting the here and the now. In a time when photojournalism has been replaced by video and live coverage of world events and everyday news, David, Verzosa and Villafranca hold on to the power a photograph has in telling a story. Their stories are still about bridging the gap between subject and audience, but this time with more emotion and revelation.
Pointing the camera at herself, David’s work, It takes an island; or how to be alone, is personal and honest. Her documentary is not the Kodak moment or the Facebook profile type; instead she rids of the picture perfect circumstances to reveal a part of her life story only a select few (if at all) have seen. She lays it out for us. She looks like that when she wakes up; she exercises in her bathtub; she has a habit of pulling her hair. No touch-ups and no styling, David invites the audience to look at her. Putting an honest face to documentary photography, she shows that the simple truth is as good and as relevant a story as any other.
Verzosa’s work entitled Communal Identity documents the different faces of the indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia- faces the world seldom gets to see, much less get to know about. Bearing witness to the living cultures of the region, Verzosa’s work records the details of the people’s everyday lives, from their clothes and chores, to their homes and landscapes. His ethnographic theme is strong, but is not limited to documenting the ‘other’. Also looking inward, Verzosa’s documentary makes it clear that the differences between people are circumstantial, and therefore not prime in understanding human nature. Everyday life is the same everywhere. There is routine; there is a need to make a living; and there is a want for expression.
Completing the trio is Villafranca, whose work, Marked: the gangs of Baseco, documents the story of the forgotten. Immersing himself in the world of the Baseco compound in Manila, which is rift in poverty, violence and stagnancy, Villafranca exposes the life of a gang member- from the rehabilitated ones seeking decent livelihoods to the compound’s children so vulnerable to the lures of gang life. Knowing his subjects are hardened to vulnerability and honesty, Villafranca spent much time with the gang members and acquainted himself with the neighborhood to reveal stories so potent and ripe with patience. Villafranca’s work witnesses the struggles the people of Baseco must face everyday to find dignity and acceptance, only to reveal that their story echoes throughout the world.
The work of David, Verzosa and Villafranca define the integral in documentary photography: accessibility is key. Forging a connection or relationship between subject and photographer, they strip the artificiality and manipulation this technological age has generated to highlight what is right there…such that in their case, exposure is much more than technical process of photography.
Image: (from left to right), Communal Identity by Jake Verzosa, Marked: The Gangs of Baseco by Veejay Villafranca, It Takes an Island; or How to be Alone by Tammy David
On Hiatus /
It’s now official, I’m taking a hiatus from my cameras until I figure some stuff out. It’s a personal decision that I thought was going to be tough at first, but just came naturally as I have become true to what I am currently feeling. Although I must admit that the situation with the news agency I’m working for is a big crash on the wall and has made me realize what other priorities a growing 25 year old like me has to focus on. And given the current happenstance, I don’t have it in me right now to put the beguiled idea of clicking a camera to feed me and my needs in my list as one of my goals; such as becoming financially independent, having a secure savings account, steady income etc. Before I used to say that “I’d rather be broke as long as I’m doing what I love” and “Money don’t mean a thang” but even if I am at a disposition to eagerly fight for something with bitter hostility, you realize certain things as you grow older. Trying to mix business and photography for me kills the passion I have with it and that’s what unexpectedly happening right now.
People, especially within my family have begun to question my wanton obsession with mountain biking. For me it’s like an airbag, cushioning the crash I underwent after the valediction from my once sacrosanct job as a news photographer. It sets me free, exhausts my tenuous attempts to dissimulate what I really feel inside and gives me a tenacity that I am still able to do something I want. How I wish I could surreptitiously create a way to dig myself out of this hole rather than pedaling my way out of it, but sometimes you just have to run away and come back fighting.
Agree to Disagree /
“To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed. Just as a camera is a sublimation of the gun, to photograph someone is a subliminal murder - a soft murder, appropriate to a sad, frightened time.” — Susan Sontag (On Photography)
I agree and disagree.
Black Nazarene Two Days Ago /
Devotees participate in a procession of the Black Nazarene in Manila January 9, 2010. Hundreds of thousands of barefoot devotees thronged the streets of Manila on Saturday as a centuries old black statue of Jesus Christ, believed to have healing powers, was paraded through the old city. The wooden, life-sized Black Nazarene, carved in Mexico and brought to the Philippines in the early 17th century, is taken out of the Quiapo Church on Jan. 9 each year for the largest parade in the predominately Roman Catholic country
Same same, but different ya? For me it’s just a bad case of too much devotion.
Black Nazarene a Year Ago /
Shot this video during last year’s Feast of the Black Nazarene. Just a little preview of what’s in store for tomorrow. Apologies for the shaky frames.
Rumuroots /
It’s been a good five years since I last went back to my family’s hometown of Bacolod. Going around the city made me realize how time really does change everything. My cousins are all grown up, older relatives getting older and having their own families.. And me? All these things make me start feeling my age. At 25, people keep on telling me that I am still young and not to worry too much about these things. But as you get older, time seems to go faster; giving you lesser opportunities to be free to do whatever you want due to the more time we are required to concentrate on how to make your own life work. Calculation, responsibilities and priorities are slowly becoming the name of the game instead of fun, joviality and liberation.
Going back to my roots made me realize that everybody has a life that he or she has to leave. Old homes, hoary playgrounds, familiar hangouts become mere memories of good or bad things that have passed. Being in Bacolod for months every year way back when I was still young created a certain sense of familiarity up to the point that I never thought anything would change. Friends would be there, cousins, even the pets. Familiarity is something that make us take things for granted which I think I am guilty of. That’s why I haven’t been back in years.
Going back to my roots made me realize that everybody has a life that he or she has to leave. Old homes, hoary playgrounds, familiar hangouts become mere memories of good or bad things that have passed. Being in Bacolod for months every year way back when I was still young created a certain sense of familiarity up to the point that I never thought anything would change. Friends would be there, cousins, even the pets. Familiarity is something that make us take things for granted which I think I am guilty of. That’s why I haven’t been back in years.
Just because we feel that certain things in life are indissoluble, it doesn’t mean that we should never invest time on it. Enjoy the present and never take for granted moments with people dear to you for nothing in this life is sempiternal. Like the old saying goes, the only thing constant in this life is change.
Flaring It Up /
There’s something truly captivating about seeing a volcano spurt out oozing lava during the night. It’s one of those few times that you could really feel like the earth is alive and animated. It’s my first time to see the famous Mayon Volcano here in Albay and it’s such a sight to see it like this. I was dumbfounded to know how the feeling of nonchalance was vastly shared among the local residents. It is as if they are so used to Mayon acting up like this — and they are. No cause for concern, no cause for panic. So what does a photographer on vacation do? Just hang loose and watch the magnificent display of mother nature of course.
